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Her white skin, a pair of two bright eyes and her light curly black hair bear witness to the class of her Eptanesian origin (she comes from Zakynthos), as well as to a special artistic delicacy. However her full-hearted laugh shows her great soul full of kindness and sensitivity. Fotini Darra is a greatly expressive person and a very successful mimic. The performer of the wonderful international concerts (held in Agia Eirini in Constantinople, in the library of Alexandria and elsewhere), the delicate singer standing next to the famous composer Dimitris Papadimitriou is an amazing comedian as well. Her jokes, as she says, have always amused her relatives and friends.

Singing has always been a form of amusement for her close family members, so she learnt, since her childhood, that singing goes absolutely together with having a great time. A great proof of that is her recent performance in Thessaloniki (March 2010). Her appearance in mini dresses and her performance of great popular hits brought people together and made everyone sing and dance.

We were all happily surprised to hear her sing great Greek hits of older times. “Naturally I am a sensitive person; still there is another part of me which is different, more powerful, and more ‘grounded’. I still am a ‘serious’ singer, as in dealing with my work with respect and in all seriousness, but I never give up on having fun in my own life”.

In her last work she “discloses” herself to her audience. She grants herself as being shy and vulnerable as much as being strong and outgoing: “On stage I feel free and I am able more than ever to show the whole of me to the people, Actually I feel like I am doing a whole turn around me and say: ‘See the whole of me. This is who I really am’.”.

It seems that the way she expresses herself through her work is fascinating to her. When being on stage she feels like a race car driver, she feels the explosion of adrenaline in her whole body and she is overwhelmed by the speed vertigo. “I used to believe that I would fall apart under such tremendous stress pressure. I turned to be more… stress-resistant than I would have ever thought. I think that the basic motive that gets me going on with my singing is for me to make friends. My wish is to talk to people, to become friends. Therefore I am totally prepared to accept all the pros and cons of an honest relationship, sharing, human contact, disagreements or even rejection”.

Fotini Darra started her carrier already since studying acting, and she had her first part played at the time she was a student. Then she had music studies, and at the same time the concerts and cd’s recordings. During the past years she has been working with Dimitris Papadimitriou, her composer and partner in life and has performed a vast and extremely demanding repertoire in very important concert places in Greece and abroad. “Dimitris is demanding on me but this is very good. All the more he is a man of a great mind structure and this is very helpful. He is well accomplished, sure of himself and he conveys all this feeling. I am absolutely sure of my choices, when made with him. I know I have all his support and help”.

At the moment, after her successful performances in Thessaloniki, she promotes her double cd Live at Gyalino which includes songs of Dimitris Papadimitriou in new instrumentation, some songs of well known Greek composers as well as a selection of foreign songs.

Recently (on March 3rd, 2010) she gave a concert in the Foundation Idrima Meizonos Ellinismou, which included songs which have been awarded with an Oscar, in the event of this year’s Oscar Awards on March 7th.

She seems not at all intimidated by this… contest between her and all these great songs, the wonderful performances, the big orchestras, the glamour of Hollywood’s mega-productions. “If you grant the songs as what they really are, you are a lost case”, she says. “We could never compare ourselves to productions of such a magnitude; we would never be able to reproduce such an image. We will have neither extravagant scenery, nor glamorous dresses, etc to show off. We will only present music… which in any case is so great, that we need nothing more, songs are the most amazing, just as they are”.

Her quotes are part of an interview taken by the journalist Maro Vasileiadou